A variety of floor matting products have been produced from solid vinyl and blown vinyl foam. These mats can be used for numerous applications, including homes, offices and factories. Some of these matting products are manufactured with OSHA safety yellow borders, which makes the mat edges visually more apparent. One reason that this is done is for safety reasons so that, for instance, the likelihood of tripping at such edges will be reduced.
Many interior spaces, ranging from aircraft passenger compartments to factory facilities, have insufficient ambient light, in the event of a failure or interruption of their normal lighting sources. This lack of ambient light can make it difficult for persons within such spaces to visually locate exits and reach those exits safely. In recognition of this problem, several different solutions have been suggested, including emergency lighting systems and marking systems such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,557 directed to a "Phosphorescent Abrasive Coated Product for Safety Tread," U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,050 directed to a "Phosphorescent Escape Route Indicator," and U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,909 directed to a "Emergency Lighting Strip."
A wide variety of photoluminescent and phosphorescent materials are known and have been previously used, as demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,813 for "Photoluminescent Textile Materials." None of these prior art materials or applications fully meet the need for a phosphorescent material and safety product in certain applications. For instance, it is frequently desirable to have a vinyl mat in industrial applications where the mat is subjected to substantial wear and physical abuse.